Phineas Finn is back. His wife has died and his old pal Barrington Earle has convinced him to return to England and run for Parliament He loses the election by a narrow margin to Mr. Bonteen, but appeals based on evidence that Bonteen has purchased votes. Phineas wins his appeal but makes an enemy of Mr. Bonteen. When Mr. Bonteen is murdered, Phineas is, or course suspect #1. The other suspect is the Reverend Mr Emilius, husband of Lady Eustace. At Lady Eustace's urging, Mr. Bonteen had traveled to Prague and found evidence that Emilius was still married to another woman when he wedded Lady Eustace, thus annulling the marriage and safeguarding her wealth and causing Emilius to lose his meal ticket.

Unfortunately for Phineas the bulk of the circumstantial evidence is against him and he is arrested for murder. His friends rally around to his defense and most critically, Madame Max Goesler travels to Prague and finds the critical evidence that will save Phineas from the gallows.

This is the fourth novel in Trollope’s Palliser series, and this one has a lot more politics entwined in the plot. They are not only an excellent picture of Mid-Victorian life, but also an excellent way to learn about English history. I recommend the Oxford Critical editions of these books, where all the political references are explained. ( )

Quite confident and informative in tone, I found this one to be one of the most enjoyable so far. Far from the satisfactory train wreck that was Lizzie Eustace, this novel was cleverly set in a new realm of the Trollope court. It was delightful to really get to know previous acquaintances (Madame Max) and meet/revisit old friends and see how time had been allowed to change them. I think that Lady Laura was, perhaps, the anomaly. She had not allowed time to change her and, in doing so, suffered. ( )

The fourth novel in Anthony Trollope's Palliser series returns the reader to the lucky Irishman Phineas Finn. Newly widowed, he decides to plunge back into politics by accepting an offer to run for a seat in the House of Commons. Yet Finn's luck soon deserts him, as his re entry is not rewarded with office and the income he needs to survive. Moreover, he suffers from the attacks of two new enemies --and he soon finds himself on trial for the most heinous of crimes.

One of Trollope's great strengths as a writer is his ability to build a world consisting of a diverse array of characters, and that strength is on display here. Nearly the full cast from his previous novels in the series makes an appearance, even if a couple of them feel shoehorned in. Yet Trollope's effort to derive some drama from putting his central character on trial doesn't work as well as it should. Perhaps aware of his limitations, he avoids any real mystery as to the perpetrator of the crime for which his central character stands trial, and it's resolution seems more melodramatic than earned. Still, for all its faults and the padding of the last hundred pages it is still an enjoyable novel, one that offers more of the continuing events of Trollope's cast of political adventurers and social butterflies. ( )

I really didn’t mean to read Phineas Redux quite yet, I intended to give some other classic authors some time, after spending so much time with Trollope this year, but my fondness for Phineas and my curiosity to know what was happening in an a world full of so many characters I have come to love …..

I just had to know!

The story begins a few years after ‘Phineas Finn’ and a few months after ‘The Eustace Diamonds’. I’ve seen suggestions that you could read the two Phineas novels back to back, but if you did that there are things that you might not appreciate in this book, because it picks up a few threads and a few characters from ‘The Eustace Diamonds’.

Phineas Finn is living in Dublin, alone, since his wife has died, and though he has a good job and a healthy income he is bored. He misses parliament, he misses his London life, and so, when he sees a chance to return, he decides to risk everything , hoping that he will be able to pick up the threads of his old life.

He’s still the same Phineas, as charming, as straightforward as ever, but time and experience has made his just a little jaded.

He finds that some things have changed and some things are still the same.

Madam Max had turned down a proposal from the Duke of Omnium; she had hoped to win Phineas, not knowing that he had already decided that his future lay with Mary Flood-Jones. She remained a good friend to the Duke, whose health was failing, and whose death would bring her a bequest that she was not prepared to accept. And she proved to be the best of friends to Phineas.

That death meant that Plantagenet Palliser was the new Duke of Omnium. Lady Glencora was in her element; I love that was so passionate about her causes, and her friendship with Madame Max is a delight. Her husband, on the other hand, was concerned that he would be ineligible to be chancellor of the exchequer again, and that he may not be able to see his work to reform the currency through to the end.

Lord Chilton and Violet Effingham had married and were happily settled. They had house-guests, and that set off a subplot – a love triangle that had echoes of one from an earlier book and yet was quite different. Trollope does see to have lots of variants on the love triangle, and I have to say that he does them very well. It was a little strange, moving from characters I knew so well to brand new characters, but I understood why they were there. One of the reasons was to keep the Chilterns in the story – as he still refused to have anything to do with politics – I loved that Lord Chiltern had grown from an angry young man into a comfortable curmudgeon, that Violet had found her niche as a wife and mother, and that the two of the understood each other so well.

Lady Laura Kennedy had fled to the continent, to escape her cold, unsympathetic husband. Her situation was dreadful, because, if she returned to England her husband could compel her return to him, as she had no grounds for divorce. The shift in her relationship with Phineas was interesting – in the first book he wanted more of her than she would give, and in this book that reversed. The arc of her story was inevitable and it was heart-breaking;

Of course Phineas became part of all of their lives again, and he regained his seat in parliament.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing. Robert Kennedy objected to Phineas visiting his wife, and it became horrible clear that he was beginning to lose his reason. And Mr Bonteen, his greatest political foe, and maybe the next chancellor of the exchequer, is determined that Phineas will be kept from high office.

The consequence of all of this is that Phineas must fight, first against a terrible slander, and then against a charge of murder.

There’s a great deal going on, and inevitably there are highs and lows. There’s quite a bit of politics to wade through at the beginning of the book, there are quiet spells between that great dramas, and it has to be said that Trollope is not a great crime writer.

But the two great dramas, and the human dramas that spin around them, are wonderful.

It works so well because – I think – Trollope was what my mother would call a people person.

He understood his characters, how their relationships worked, how life and events would change them.

He understood how their world worked; he may or may not of liked that, but he presented it, clear-sightedly, as it was.

He cared and he made me care; it’s as simple as that. ( )

I didn't like Phineas Finn years ago; I don't like the redux now. Two bummers in dozen I've read of Trollope is not bad. Immediately started the next in the Palliser series, The Prime Minister, and love it. ( )

As the title rather implies, this fourth part of the Palliser saga brings back the main characters from Phineas Finn, slightly older and rearranged, but in a plot that fels disconcertingly like a re-run of that first book. Phineas is back from Ireland to have another go at establishing himself in English politics; as soon as he arrives he finds himself back in touch with the three ladies who were the drivers of the plot before - Violet (now happily married to a foxhunting peer), Laura (still estranged from her gloomy Scottish husband) and Madame Max (busy consoling the old Duke of Omnium in his declining years). And Lady Glencora, as we would expect, is discreetly pulling the strings.

Politics also seems to have gone round in circles. The Great Reform that was fought over so bitterly hasn't made elections very much fairer yet, and the hypocrisy of parliament is unchanged - in a blatant move to split the opposition, a minority Tory Prime Minister is promoting a measure that he and his party have always opposed, and which none of them believe in (plus ca change!). When a cabinet minister is brutally murdered, the police arrest an Irishman and an immigrant from Eastern Europe...

There's always something very comforting in pulling on a big, thick Victorian novel on a winter's day, and Trollope is about as warm and wooly as they come. But that's not to say that the world he writes about is idealised and comforting - he is quite happy to show us corruption, fraud, hypocrisy (religious and political), mental illness, inequality, greed and all the rest. Parliament, the Church and the Law are all fully open to be mocked and criticised for their weaknesses. Unlike most British writers of the time, he also has no hesitation about breaking the convention that marriages in fiction have to be happy, and he's not completely convinced that there's any sound basis for setting up society in such a way that men run things and women are there only to help and support them.

A detail - only one among many - that really struck me was the way Trollope lets Phineas suffer a kind of emotional collapse after what should (by normal narrative standards) have been his big moment of triumph - as soon as the intense stress he's been under is taken away, he goes into a period of depression in which he doesn't want to talk to anybody, to be seen in public, or make any kind of plans for his future. When you read it, you feel that this is the only possible way someone like Phineas could possibly have reacted, but you have to wonder whether any other novelist of the time would have allowed a male character to show that kind of weakness. ( )

When we last met Phineas Finn in his eponymous novel, he was a young rookie Member of Parliament, somewhat idealistic and impetuous both at work and with the ladies. Phineas Redux opens a few years later, and our hero has mellowed after dealing with a few hardships. He assumes a new seat in Parliament and becomes involved in the issues of the day, most notably Disestablishmentarianism, the campaign to separate church and state. His personal life is still somewhat tumultuous, as he accepts the affections of two ladies simultaneously: his lifelong friend Lady Laura Kennedy, and the more exotic Madame Max Goesler. It’s fairly typical stuff for the Palliser novels, but then Phineas becomes a suspect in the murder of a prominent government figure, and Trollope turns his hand towards writing a 19th century crime novel.

Alongside the main storyline are those of characters we’ve met in previous novels including Plantagenet Palliser, his wife Lady Glencora, and Lord and Lady Chiltern. And Adelaide Palliser, a distant cousin, weighs her marriage options.

Because it’s Trollope, everything works out for the best but not without some sadness along the way. The crime and courtroom drama was well done, albeit in a characteristic style that left no doubt about “whodunnit”. Trollope’s depiction of post-trial Phineas was realistic and touching. I really enjoyed this installment in the Palliser series and look forward to reading the next book soon. ( )

My favorite of the Palliser Novels so far. Politics, domestic intrigue, and a murder trial ... what could make for better reading? A couple subplots are duds, but no matter at all. A wonderful read. ( )

I loved this follow up to Phineas Finn. All the characters are back: Phineas, of course, and Lady Laura, Lady Glencora (my favorite), Madame Max, Lord Chiltern, Lady Chiltern (formerly Violet Effingham) etc. There are of course some new characters as well, notably Adelaide Palliser, a cousin of Plantagenet's, and her love interest Gerard Maule.

I read along with a group read led by Liz (lyzard) which I found really added to my reading. Notably, Liz's comments led me to really notice the attitude towards work of the different characters. There is the Duke of Omnium who is revered for his ability to just be a Duke and spend his money without working at all. There's Plantagenet Palliser who inherits the Duke's money and title but cannot bring himself to leave his work ethic behind and is unsatisfied with the traditional role of a Duke. There's Gerard Maule who has no money but still only wants to hunt and not work. There is Lord Chiltern who I suppose you could say works hard at hunting, but I don't find that a very worthy endeavor. And there is Phineas, who wants to work in government but can't find a position and doesn't seem willing to make his way in any other field. I didn't feel that Trollope comes down on any one side, but he makes some interesting comparisons and has obviously thought about this.

This book has some great action and twists, especially in the second half, which I'm not going to go in to so as not to spoil anything. Suffice to say that I found the plot really moves along in this one and found it pretty easy to read, even with the politics which mainly have to do with the disestasblishment of the church. Trollope continues to explore the effectiveness and fairness of the political system.

As always, Trollope writes great female characters and this book is packed with them. One great contrast in this book is between Lady Laura and Adelaide Palliser. From Phineas Finn we know that Laura married Robert Kennedy knowing that she loved Phineas, choosing money and security over love with disastrous results. Lady Laura has made her bed and now has to lie in it throughout this novel. I found it interesting to contrast her choice with Adelaide's, who chooses to marry Gerard Maule for love despite their lack of money. Of course, we never see if Adelaide and Gerard live a happy marriage, but at least some things do work out for them since Adelaide persists in favoring love over practicality. I do wish Gerard Maule had been a more worthy suitor, as I found him a sort of boring lump.

Overall, I loved this continuation of the Palliser series. ( )

Phineas Finn ended with the hero's return to Ireland in the belief that his political career was over. Phineas Redux begins with an unexpected opportunity for Phineas to return to Parliament. He returns to London and to the circle of friends and colleagues he had left behind two years earlier. Although Phineas's Liberal party is “out” and the Conservatives are “in”, Phineas believes that his party will soon return to power and that he will be offered a salaried position in a new Liberal government. Once again he learns a hard lesson when he discovers that the political class values party loyalty above loyalty to one's friends and to one's convictions. Something more occurs that shatters his faith in the rule of law and the application of justice. Through his misfortunes Phineas discovers what is truly important to him.

Although this novel was written two centuries ago, the characters and situations could have been pulled from today's news headlines. Political divisions are as partisan as ever, and public perception is valued more than truth. Trollope's focus on character and social structure give his novels a timeless quality with continued appeal to new generations of readers. Highly recommended. ( )

In the fourth of the Palliser series, Phineas Finn, recently widowed after just a year of marriage, is persuaded to return to London and stand again for Parliament. He loses, but challenges the election on the grounds that the long-time holder of the seat bribed the electorate, and ultimately gains the seat. The big issue in Parliament is the "disestablishment" of the Church of England, meaning that it will have to be supported by its parishioners, rather than by the nation's coffers, i.e., the taxpayers. (In the US, we would call this separation of church and state, although, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that has come to involve much more than was originally intended.) The conservative prime minister has proposed this and the liberals (among whom Phineas finds himself), who actually support the idea, roundly criticize the prime minister for hypocrisy and vote against the measure. Ultimately, the conservative prime minister is out, and the liberal prime minister is in, thus setting the stage for a potential return to a paying position for Phineas.

But the novel is not largely about Parliament and Phineas's role in it. Rather it is about the complications of his personal life. Readers of Phineas Finn will recall that Phineas proposed to Lady Laura, only to find that she had just accepted the proposal of Robert Kennedy and that her marriage to him was so unhappy that she fled to Dresden with her father to escape him. In this novel, Phineas learns that Lady Laura has been in love with him all this time (he no longer feels the same way about her) and that Kennedy has sensed this and is insanely (and I mean insanely) jealous. When one of the London newspapermen comes to Phineas with a letter written by Kennedy he plans to run, a letter alleging that Phineas and Lady Laura have been having an affair, Phineas first goes to talk to Kennedy who, in his madness, fires a gun at him, and then goes to a lawyer friend to seek an injunction against the newspaperman printing the letter, thereby earning the bitter enmity of said newspaperman. That is one thread of the story.

Another thread is the bitter enmity of Bonteen, another member of Parliament, who accuses Phineas obliquely of "sinking the ship" when he voted his conscience on an issue in the previous novel and left Parliament; needless to say, Phineas takes offense. Bonteen and his wife are also helping Lizzie Eustace (from The Eustace Diamonds prove that her husband, Emilius, is a bigamist who has a wife back in Prague. Then Bonteen is murdered, and while Emilius is initially arrested, he proves to have what appears to be an alibi, and then Phineas is arrested. Thus begins an ordeal of imprisonment and trial, which enables Trollope to describe the system of trials at the time, and how lawyers for the prosecution and defense deal with what is only circumstantial evidence.. Ultimately, Phineas is acquitted through the efforts of his friends, especially Marie Goesler, to find evidence incriminating Emilius.

As I have come to expect from Trollope, his characterization of women is extraordinary, especially considering the period in which he wrote. The women spring to life, not only Marie Goesler and Lady Laura, but also one of my favorite characters, Glencora Palliser, who becomes the Duchess in this novel when the old Duke of Omnium dies and her husband, Plantagenet Palliser, becomes the new Duke. Lady Chiltern, the former Violet Effingham, another previous love of Phineas's, plays a role in this novel too, as does, in a subplot, a new character, Adelaide Palliser, a cousin of the Duke's. I am sorry to say that in this novel Lady Laura has become a very unhappy and even obsessed character; although her situation is of her own making (she married Kennedy rather than Phineas because she needed money at the time, having used her own to pay off her brother's -- Lord Chiltern's -- debts), I believe Trollope is also commenting on the strictures placed on women at the time.

Of course, there are subplots too numerous for me to explain, but some involve the old Duke's attempt to leave Marie Goesler money and jewels, which she tries to reject; a controversy between the Chilterns and the Duke about fox-hunting rights; the on-again, off-again engagement between Adelaide Palliser and a man named Maule, and the attempt by another man, Spooner, to take advantage when it is off-again; and the delightful reappearance of Lizzie Eustace and her attempt to get rid of her husband.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, even if it as a tad melodramatic, and look forward to the next in the series.

A newly widowed Phineas returns to politics and is tried for the murder of a rival MP. The first half of this story was mainly politics and was a little slow, but then the second half picked up the pace and focussed more on the personal lives of the characters. I struggled to sympathize with Phineas at any point during the novel: he seemed to move from a sense of entitlement to an over-inflated sense of his own importance to petulance to feeling sorry for himself. I would've liked to have seen a strong character call him to account more. The Lady Laura storyline was well-done, but I was sorry not to see more first hand of Lizzie Eustace, my favourite baddie of this series. The Maule/Adelaide romance was a bit lacking somehow. ( )

Another novel of the trials of parliamentary politics and government service in an era before the non-partisan civil service. May also be counted among Trollope's novels of court procedure, as the protagonist is put on trial for murder.

The Palliser series continues in "Phineas Redux", and Phineas Finn continues to try and find his way through the maze of governmental politics. This installment sees him come within an inch of his life, loved by two women, and revered solely for his legal status. Trollope makes his ongoing statement regarding the absurdity of politics when Phineas is offerred a significant government position primarily because of his notoriety. Oh Phineas, Phineas! Such an iconic, yet laughable and lovable character! ( )

2013, Blackstone Audiobooks, Read by Simon Vance

Having spent the past seven years in Ireland, Phineas Finn returns to his old life in London upon the death of his young wife. Recalling the drawing rooms of several well-to-do London women, which had sometimes been open exclusively to him, he is tempted by his old haunts and wonders, “Would the Countesses’ cards be showered upon him again?” (Ch 6) As it turns out, such frivolities are superceded by far more gripping concerns: like avoiding a trip to the gallows, for one. For another, he needs to come to grips with an internal struggle between his parliamentary ambitions and his ever-growing distaste for the chicaneries of politics: “’I don’t know which are the falser,’ he said to himself, ‘the mock courtesies or the mock indignations of statesmen.’” (Ch 78) But all is not gloom and doom for Trollope’s protagonist: wealthy women and exclusive invitations, indeed!

I am completely taken with Trollope’s female characters, and in this regard Phineas Redux more than satisfied. Lady Glencora, now Duchess of Omnium (and my favourite) is delightful as ever – lively, dignified, not too weighted down by decorum, and in-the-know as regards any “rattle” in society. We see much more here of Madame Marie Goesler, gifted with charm, brains, and fortune – but the greatest of these is fortune! Lizzie Eustace has changed not one iota: “Poor Lizzie Eustace! Was it nature or education which had made it impossible to her to tell the truth, when a lie came to her hand? Lizzie, the liar! Poor Lizzie!” (Ch 72) Admittedly, newcomer Adelaide Palliser, first cousin (though not of the moneyed variety) to the new Duke of Ominum, is completely underwhelming. But the others more than made up! And finally, Lady Laura Kennedy has become a pathetic figure, personifying the impossible position of women in the nineteenth century. Having now deserted her scornfully jealous husband, she is tragically aware of her reality:

“I have done wrong, and have shipwrecked every hope in this world. No woman was ever more severely punished. My life is a burden to me, and I may truly say that I look for no peace this side the grave … 

He now threatens me with publicity. He declares that unless I return to him he will put into some of the papers a statement of the whole case. Of course this would be very bad. To be obscure and untalked of is all the comfort that now remains to me … I have not answered him yet, nor have I shown his letter to Papa … but I almost fear to talk to Papa about it. He never urges me to go back, but I know that he wishes that I should do so. He has ideas about money …“ (Ch 65)

I remain delightfully enraptured in Trollope’s Palliser series. If I have a criticism of Phineas Redux it is that I occasionally found the political comings and goings difficult to follow (and, yes, I am aware that these are Trollope’s “Parliamentary Novels”). That said, I think I’ve made it pretty clear that the women characters are more than fair compensation! And Simon Vance is … well, Simon Vance. ( )

I just loved this. This painted such a vivid image of the politics of the day, and Phineas's struggle to reconcile his former ambition with his newfound distaste for the vagaries and mechanics of politics.

It was also an interesting picture of women's role in Victorian society, and I couldn't quite work out whether Trollope was satirising the generally beneficient influence that the Duchess and Madame Goesler had on general events.

One could not help but feel sorry for Lady Laura Kennedy, loving but unloved, and her constant struggle for Phineas despite knowing it was impossible that what she wanted would come to pass.

Most of all, though, it was the politics and the critical and in depth examination of the criminal justice system that got me.

So much to love about this, one of the best political novels I've come across. ( )

After enjoying another wonderful Trollope, I fail to understand why Dickens, with his over-emphasised caricatures and crazy plot twists, has survived as the master of the Victorian era. Give me Trollope any day. And this is one of Trollope's best. As usual, his characters are convincingly drawn - in this case including a powerful description of a mental breakdown (post-traumatic stress disorder?) that shows how acutely Trollope observed and understood people. Unusually for Trollope, this book contains more plot action, and becomes quite a page-turner in parts. Lovely stuff. Read January 2011. ( )

It's been a while since I read the previous three Palliser novels, and I wasn't sure how easily I'd be able to slip back into the series. This turned out not to be a problem, perhaps partially aided by the fact that Phineas Redux is a great book, even viewed independently of the other Palliser novels.

I found Phineas Finn to be a little too political for my tastes, and for me Phineas Redux was more enjoyable since politics takes a backseat compared to the other events in Phineas' life. I was hooked throughout the trial, and desperately hoping that justice would prevail.

For me, this has been the best book in the Palliser series so far and I am looking forward to reading the final two with renewed enthusiasm. ( )

Phineas Finn returns to London and politics in this novel, the fourth in Trollope's Palliser series. The previous books (as well as most of the Barsetshire novels) can probably be read out of sequence with not much confusion. This one, however, should probably be read following at least Phineas Finn. Trollope picks up the story sometime after the events of Phineas Finn, but all the old relationships and conflicts are present. Having lost his wife, Phineas returns to Parliament. However, the election is not without some controversy, which later comes back to haunt him. He also reconnects with old friends and enemies.

His relationship with Lady Laura Kennedy is developed further. Separated from her husband, Laura has become increasingly isolated and, after Phineas returns, increasingly dependent on him. There's a sharp contrast to the first Phineas book, where Laura was his superior in status, political influence and self-possession. He confessed his love and she calmly let him down, but remained his friend. Now Laura is unable to contain her emotions and admits she loves Phineas. For the whole book, Phineas remains loyal to Laura, even when it costs him politically, but never returns her love. Laura's husband Mr. Kennedy also suffers in isolation. On one hand, Trollope shows the destruction caused by a marriage that, to Laura at least, was mostly mercenary. Laura's marriage is also a contrast to the happy outcome of a 'sensible' match such as the one between Lady Glencora and Plantagenet Palliser. Glencora's marriage was decided for her. She didn't love her husband, but he was a steady, ambitious, well-off politician. At one point, Glencora even wanted to leave him for another man, but they worked things out and their marriage was a success. The Kennedy marriage was arranged under similar circumstances, but it ruins both Kennedy and Laura.

Glencora and her husband are dealing with the Duke of Omnium, Palliser's uncle, who is near death. The thought of inheriting his uncle's title and vast wealth does not appeal to the stolid Palliser, who only wants to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Glencora also tries to bring about the match between her friend, Madame Max Goesler and Phineas, much to Laura's chagrin. In politics, there's an intense debate over church disestablishment. Trollope's requisite love subplot is less interesting than some - Adelaide Palliser and the man she can't quite make up her mind to love and marry, Gerard Maule. Lizzie Eustace from the third Palliser novel shows up, unsurpringly unhappy in her second marriage. The main plot deals with Phineas being accused of the murder of a political rival. ( )

Again, I have not yet read this. I bought it used in London to get a more portable copy. ( )